A close look at the Cannes Film Festival official slate makes you understand why fest chiefs Thierry Frémaux and Gilles Jacob admire tough guys like Clint Eastwood and Sean Penn.

Eastwood or Penn aren’t physically expected at the 66th edition of the festival (May 15-26), unless they pop in for one of the many special events or parties at the annual cinema celebration on the Riviera waterfront.

But their uncompromising spirit is evident in how the Cannes programmers resolutely refuse to bow to media or social pressure in how they select their films, especially the ones competing for the Palme d’Or. Admirers will praise their consistency of vision; detractors will damn their stubbornness.

After being pilloried last year for failing to have a single female director amongst the 22 filmmakers in the Palme competition, you would have thought the Cannes selectors might significantly up the estrogen quotient for this year’s lineup, alongside such usual male suspects as the Coen Bros. (Inside Llewyn Davis), Steven Soderbergh (Behind the Candelabra), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Roman Polanski (Venus in Fur), James Gray (The Immigrant) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Only God Forgives).

To the astonishment of many, Frémaux and his programmers declined even to find a Palme spot for Claire Denis, the acclaimed French auteur who last competed for the prize in 1988. Instead her new film Les Salauds (Bastards) will screen in the parallel Un Certain Regard section, which will open with another film fanned by the Palme: Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring.

In fact, the translation “having a special look” for Un Certain Regard takes on new meaning this year, since the section hosts no fewer than six films by female directors, including Canada’s major flag-carrier at Cannes 2013: rookie Quebec feature filmmaker Chloé Robichaud.

Her movie Sarah préfère la course (Sarah Would Rather Run), shot in Quebec City and Montreal and set in the world of competitive running, stars Sophie Desmarais as a middle-distance sprinter struggling to balance love and life ambitions. Writer/director Robichaud, 25, was at Cannes in 2012 with her short film Chef de meute (Herd Leader), which competed for the Palme D’Or for short films.

The only other Canadian filmmaker in the prestigious Cannes Official Selection is one the festival officially lists as American (“Columbia University, USA”). Jefferson Moneo was born in Saskatoon but lives in New York, and his short film Going South is among 18 shorts in the Cinéfondation section showcasing student filmmakers.

New movies by Robichaud’s fellow Quebecers — Denis Villeneuve’s An Enemy and Xavier Dolan’s Tom on the Farm — didn’t make the cut for the prestigious Official Selection, most notably in the feature film Palme d’Or competition, where it was thought they might finally gain entry.

Many punters, present company included, thought that both Villeneuve and Dolan had a good chance at the Palme competition. They might still, because as many as three more films are likely to be added prior to the start of the fest, just as The Artist was in 2011, beginning its Cannes-to-Hollywood golden trip.

Villeneuve and Dolan also have a shot at the Directors’ Fortnight and International Critics’ Week programs, which are still to be announced.

There might even be room in the Palme roster for more female directors, and for British and German filmmakers who were also shut out. Anything is possible before jury president Steven Spielberg convenes his Palme panel (also still to be announced) on May 15, when Baz Luhrmann’s non-competing The Great Gatsby will open the festival.

One thing is for sure: woe to anyone who tries to bully Frémaux, Jacob or any of the other Cannes honchos into selecting films on any basis other than cinematic merit.

The response would likely be the French version of Clint Eastwood’s “Go ahead, make my day!”

Follow on Twitter: @peterhowellfilm

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